THE AGE LIMIT .

Evening Star, Issue 12871, 21 July 1906, Page 2

THE AGE LIMIT .

GOVERNING THE GRANTING OP FREE PLACES : IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS. The Dunedin and Suburban School Committees’ Association called a meeting of parents and guardians of children at-, tending the primary and high 'schools, said meeting being appointed to be held in the Board room of the Agricultural Hall last night, for the purpose of considering the conditions under .which freeplace scholars are admitted to the High Schools, At the announced hour the:attendance numbered fourteen, -including Miss Merchant, Mr Donald Borrie (chairman of the Education Board), Mr G.. C. Israel, Mr M. Cohen, Mr W. Davidson, Mr Jeffery, Mr AUnutt, Mr Wbetter, and Mr J. G. Sawell. By a quarter-past eight o’clock only one more gentleman had appeared—Mr J. F. Arnold, M.H.R. Air Cohen then said he thought they had waited long enough, and he would pr - pose that Mr G. C, Israel take the chair. —(Hear, hear.) Mi 1 Israel said that tho absence of the Executive of the Schools’ Association seemed a little inexplicable. The only thing he could suggest was that when the theatre was open some persons could not find the entrance to the Board room. He would take the chair on the' understanding that when the proper officers arrived he should be at liberty to vacate it- He had been asked to apologise for the Hon. T. Fergus, who was in perfect sympathy with the object of the meeting. Everybody recognised the liberality of the Government in regard to making education free. What had been clone in that direction, especially by Mr Seddoh, was fully appreciated j but as to access to free places in the secondary schools a bar had arisen—it was not known how or why. It seemed to him, however, that it required very little change to give children as free access in fact as they had in theory. Mr J. G. Sawell said it appeared to him that the position was anomalous. A benefit was given with one hand and taken away with the other. It was said that a child would have two years’ free education at the secondary school provided ho received a certificate of proficiency before he reached the age of fourteen. But that was not so. As*a matter' of fact, according to the way tho schools were examined, a child must be not more than thirteen years and six months old before it could get the benefit of the two years’ education. He would ' like someone to tell him whether the Dunedin High School was so much superior to the district high schools. Ho did not think it was. At those other high schools there was no age limit. It seemed extraordinary that people living in Dunedin should be barred from such a privilege. Ho would move—“ That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting that the age limit for free places in secondary schools for thoso who have obtained a certificate of proficiency should be abolished.”

Mr R. Mercer seconded the motion. Ho had a child who was affected bv the existing conditions. Mr D. Borrie said that he was not in sympathy with the motion as proposed, but he certainly thought there should be an alteration in the regulations. He did not think there should be no restriction as to age. If this restriction were abolished what would be the result?" It would be this : If he himself took the fancy to give himself two years’ education at the expense of the State he would, if he could get his certificate of competency, be entitled to get the advantage. He thought there should be an age limit, but he did not agree that fourteen was the proper age. He could show, however, that the existing regular tion was not the hardship it was generally believed to be. He thought the regulations were misunderstood to some extent. Were the present regulations taken advantage of to the full extent? He said they were not by a long way. Probably the general public was not aware of the fact that the High Schools. Board of Governors had permission to take 'in up to 10 per cent, of the entire numberof free places at the secondary schools, irrespective of age altogether. Taking the Dunedin High Schools, he found that they were permitted to take in fifty pupils who had passed of fourteen years. The result was that they had only twentyone free places filled, and there were twenty-nine free places at present in the High Schools vacant. No one had applied for them, and they had been vacant all this year. Chairman ; That- is over and above the age limit? Mr Borrie ; Yes, under clause E of Hie regulations in regard to free places. Mr R. G. Whetter : I have a boy now who will be fourteen in September, and consequently, cannot get a free place. Would he come in under that clause? Mr Borrie replied that such a boy could come in under clause E next year He (Mr Borrie) thought there should be an amendment in the Act, because there were some difficulties. There was am educational conference held in Wellington in September last at which this matter came up, when he moved as an amondment to the present regulations—“ Provided the pupil gets a certificate of proficiency nnder the age of fourteen years, he should bo entitled to two years* free education from the beginning of the next schoo! year.” He thought that would gleet the whole difficulty. A pupil should be allowed to get his education at any school ho liked after getting his certificate, and, at the beginning of the next school year, begin with his two years’ free education. This would be better for the punil, because most of the big schools had a seventh standard, and up to the end of the year the pupil would be doing m the primary school the same work that woidd face him in the High School. It would never do to abolish the age limit altogether. If that were done there would bo nothing to prevent a man of eighty years applying. A Voice: Why"shouldn’t He? Mr Borrie answered that such a thing seemed to him an absurdity on the fad ?!. 1 ' hja -i h , Q argued for was th^' t P n pJ should stay in his ? he *iad completed the seventh standard and that he should then have two full years. He (Mr Borrie) did not altogether blame the department for what had been done. During last year a communication emanated from the Otago High Schools. Board of Governors protesting against the proposal. I he result was that there was a circular sent to the chairman of every high schools board in the colony, with a series of questions to answer. In reply nine of the high schools protested against- anv change, six asked for a modification, and only three wished the age limit abolished altogether. In the face of that evidence from tae whole of the colony it was plain the majority of the high schools did not wish to alxilish the age limit. Mr Cohen: Whom do the high school authorities represent? They do not represent public opinion or the parents Mr Borrie said they represented the Schools, and it was surely for the benefit of the schools that they should get as many pupils in as possible, seeing that the department paid from £7 10s to £8 per pupil That was the way he looked at it. at any rate, in connection, with the Hi oh School in which ho was particularly interested. He dm not think the department, would over abolish the age limit, though it might alter it * ~ Mr Whetter did not think .the department! would abolish the age limit, at any rate for' a few years; but if pressure were brought) to bear he thought it might do what M? Borrie had suggested. .. If a child had fhrei or four months’ finishing in the primarf school it would round off his work and make hhn fitter for the high school. There enura not be any great grievance in Dunedin fif there were twenty-nine free places soil open. Mr W. Davidson expressed the opinion that the vacant free places Mr Borrie Jiad referred to were not taken advantage of for the reason that the public were not mide aware of the fact. The Board of Governors

public. - If there was tkT age limit"’in the Country districts, why should, the Dunedin children be penalised? There were children in the town schools who because of being delicate could not enter at such an age as to win a proficiency certificate before; the age of fourteen. Moreover, in the country, owing to bad roads and so forth, many children, did hot go to school till they were six or seven years old, and if the parents of such children came to town the children were penalised through no fault of their own. IJo was sorry the department had not made a common-sense regulation such, as that proposed by. Mr Borrie at the conference in Wellington. He would like to see the motion withdrawn in favor of the one passed oh the previous day by the Education Board, to the effect that the age should be not more than fifteen on the Ist of December succeeding the date of the obtaining of the proficiency certificate. Mr Cohen said it was very stahge indeed that Mr Borrie, as chairman of the Board; had not in his place iH the, chair on Thurs day given the public at large the benefit of the information he had just imparled to the meeting. And it was stranger still, if the Board knew those facts, that they should have carried, with practical unanimity, Mr Mackenzie’s motion recommending the Minister of Education to abolish the age limit for free places. Mr Borrio: The Board did not carry that resolution.

Mr Cohen said he was astonished to hear that. He took the daily Press for his authority; and they agreed that the resolution carried on Thursday was as he bad just stated it •

Mr Borrie: The resolution was materially altered. For example, the Ist of December was substituted for December 31. Mr Cohen: That was only a matter of detail. His point was that the Board had carried unanimously, go far os the public were aware, a resolution affirming the desirability of abolishing the age unfit, and as an alternative proposition (if abolition of the ago limit could not be obtained) that free scholars up to fourteen years should enter the secondary schools at the beginning of tho succeeding^school year. Apparently the Board, qua Board, did hot know that the Board of Governors had such a large number of vacancies for free scholars. Certainly fie head-masters of the city 4fid suburban schools did not know it, because in special meeting assembled they had unanimously endorsed the demand for the abolition of the age limit. And especially were the parents of children entitled to free pi aces, in ignorance of this important fact, and the Board of Governors had failed in their duty in not proclaiming it for the benefit of those immediately interested. (Hear.) These were the minor incidents that pointed to the necessity for parents of the scholars having direct representation on the governing body of the secondary schools. —(Applause.) But he would point out that the regulation (E) referred to by Mr Borrie was optional in its terms, and not mandatory, as provided in Mr T. Mackenzie’s motion adopted by the Education Board. They all knew that in Christchurch, Wanganui, Wellington, and other places the governing bodies of the secondary schools had refused to grant a sufficiency of free places, lest probably there would be too great an inrush of primary scholars. The consequence had been that the Minister of Education had been compelled to establish district high schools in those ’ centres to give secondary education facilities to all who gained proficiency certificates. His contention was that since the Legislature had pronounced in favor of free education from the kindergarten to the university—they would be satisfied with nothing short of absolute freedom from tho bottom to the top of the educational ladder —it was the right of every child to gain secondary and higher education if he or she had the inclination and capacity to take advantage of the provision in that behalf made by 'the State. It should not be within _ the discretion or caprice of any managing body. He was present at the Educational Conference last year when Mr Borrie moved his amendment to the regulations. The Conference heartily endorsed the change, but the department had vetoed it, though Mr Seddon told a deputation from the Schools’ Conference the year before last that he favored the abolition of the age limit. ijnu j ie - v abolished the .age limit ho did not see .how it was possible to obtain the equally important reform that ™ often demanded—viz.. that all the Standard examinations in the'city and suburbs should be hold at the end of the primary school year.. This must be done not tonly in the interest of the primary scholars, but in the interest of the secondary schools themse’ves, for it had been demonstrated beyond cavil that the existing svatem of examination not only robbed children of a substantial portion* of their time at_ the, secondary school, bub was most nnfair to the staffs of the secondary schools by producing disorganisation and impaired teaching efficiency. The reform had been adopted in most of the other education districts in the colony, and he had failed to discover a single convincing argument against its adoption here.

The Chairman invited Mass Merchant principal of the Girls’ High School; to speak.

Mis Mardbant said that she had always been in difficulties about .interpreting the regulation iin question. Personally, she did not sco that the age limit should be abolished. The high schools were feeding the univentities. The cleverest of the pupils who went to the hijjfc schools hoped to leave with University scholarships, the age limit for which was nineteen years. The work for a University scholarship could not be done iri less than five years, to if the ago limit in the primary schools were raised it might debar the cleverest of the children from going on, because they could not get a University scholarship beyond at the High School to gain a University scholarship, She thought that if the stan dard examinations were held in December. ‘JIJ , in June, much of the present difficulty would be overcome, whi] Q those pupils.who became fourteen yearn of age in December would get in under clause E asat present. The admission of pupils in February was the rational procedure, and the high schools could fall in with that if the time for the standard examinations were altered. It had been altered in other places, and it mpght be altered in Otago. , J - F - Arnold, M.H.R., said that he had been and still -was in favor of abolishmg the age limit, but he realised that the argument raised by MS® Merchant about the University had to be met.

Mr Allnult (Kadrorai) said that out oi forty-five or forty-six of has. pupils who had gained proficiency certificates only four or five were going to the High School. This probably resulted from tho knowledge the scbolairs from their brothers or sisters or othera that a pupil could not do the work of the High School in fifteen months, and that St would he a waste of lime to go to the High School. Air Wbetter (Forhury) also said that but few of his children were going to tho High School.

■Mr Jeffery (AndOfsou Bay) thought the age should nob be raised too much—-per-haps to fourteen and a-bali years—and if the standard examinations were held at Christmas time most of the difficulties in ronntetion with the whole subject would, be thought, be overcame, j After a discussion the motion was with,drawn, and the .following resolution, on (the lines of the Education Board’s resolution, was unanimously adopted That a (pupil shall be qualified to be the holder of la free place who, being over fifteen years 'of age on the Ist of December, preceding the date of his admission to. a secondary school, has obtained a certificate of profi. deucy >s defined by regtdatkm under the principal Act.” It was resolved, on tite motion of Mr Cohen, seconded by Mr Jeffery—" That the standard examteatsop* in Dunedin and suburbs be conducted as near the end of the year, as the Board deem advisable.*